Proper wire

Hey guys,

I was wondering... Does it matter what kind of wire (in terms of gauge) I
have connecting my amp to my sub? I have a 16 gauge out of the amp. I
bought the custom sub with a VERY thick strand wire coming out of the box.
The 16 gauge is connecting these two. The reason I ask is because when I'm
hearing music that has a lot of bass and it's playing pretty loud, the sub
will go out. I have a 600W amp and a 1000W sub. I was thinking the reason
was the wire that connects them. I don't really know a lot about this stuff,
so any help is greatly appreciated.

Dave

 

Hi,
ok Dave this is the problem the bigger the wires are the more clear the
sound will be if u use a 0gauge wire wich is huge u see the lower the number
gauge the bigger so i recommend that you get a thinker wire for all the bass
u need ive got a 3 gauge wire "monster cable"

 

as the other person said, you need larger wire, i have 2 gauge, dont forget,
have just as large or larger ground, its important

 

I used 16 gauge for my 2 12" subs with a 400 watt amp and it was fine. When
you the sub cuts out when you listen to a lot of bass, how long has it been
playing? What it the gauge of the power wires? It's possible your amp is
going into protected mode, meaning it shuts itself off to prevent possible
damage. Think of it like a self-resetting curcuit breaker. The usually
culprits of this are either running the amp with too low of a ohm load or
just pure overheating. I used to listen to mine at full bast with a ton of
bass and after an hour and a half of this the amp would overheat and
shutdown for about 15 to 20 minutes. Also, when quality of the electronics
matter too with how much you can push the amp. A friend of mine had a 600
watt JBL amp powering 2 10" Pioneer subs and it would overheat after 10
minutes. Talk about your cheap crap.

 

Size does matter. 16 AWG is too skimpy for 600W, but will not cause a
complete loss of sound like you describe. I believe what is happening is
that your amp shuts down because it overheats. Thicker wire to the
speaker would not help this.

Where and how is your amp mounted? It should be in a place where heat
can dissipate easily, so under carpet or under a seat are not good
locations.